GS Paper III – Conservation

• United Nations-led climate change negotiations launched in 1991, producing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 1992.

What different section says?

• Article 4 (7) of the UNFCCC clearly says “that the extent to which the developing country Party will be fulfilling their climate action commitments is contingent on how much finance and technology they get from developed country Parties”
• The Paris Agreement retains, in Article 9(1), the provision relating to finance, binding the developed countries to mobilise finance for the developing countries.
• The sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) has described finance, capacity-building and a transfer of technology as critical enablers of climate action in developing countries in the backdrop of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions responsible for 1.1° Celsius of warming (above what it was in 1850-1900) in 2011-20.

Increse in financial assistance

• The developed countries agreed in 2009 that they would collectively mobilise $100 billion a year by 2020.
• The $100 billion mark, met by the developed countries only in 2022, does not match the growing needs of climate finance corresponding to the developing countries’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
• This marked fund not sufficient to meet the actions needed across different sectors to keep the average global temperature rise within 1.5° Celsius by the end of this century.
• The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP 29) meeting held at Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024, where adopted New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG), replacing a $100 billion floor
• In response to persistent demand by all the major negotiating groups belonging to the developing south that the developed north mobilise $1.3 trillion by 2030, the developed north agreed to release only $300 billion per year by 2035.
• The UNFCCC’s Standing Committee on Finance (SFC) relating to the annual financial needs of developing countries, which it derived from their NDCs. As in the SFC’s estimation, the financial needs stand at between $455 billion-$584 billion.
• The decision on the NCQG makes reference to the financial needs of those particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change such as the least developed countries (LDC) and small island developing states (SIDS). But the NCQG does not make minimum allocation floors for the LDCs and SIDS.
• During the meeting, the Alliance of Small Island States demanded the allocation of $39 billion for SIDS while the LDC demanded at least $220 billion for them.

India and the NCQG

• India joined the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer from further depletion, which led to setting up of a multilateral fund of $240 million, including an additional $80 million for use in India, China and other eligible low-income Parties.
• During COP29, India specified that the new floor should mobilise $1.3 trillion by 2030, of which at least $600 billion should come in the form of grants and concessional resources.
• India has expressed its extreme disappointment on the adoption of the NCQG in its present form, shape — which was without its consultation.
• India outrightly rejected the NCQG. It also added that this NCQG expects the developing world to mobilise resources.